Roasted Garlic and Greenhouse Vegetables

Tonight I roasted some garlic in preparation for my dinner tomorrow night. My housemate roasted garlic a few weeks ago and I tried a clove. It is delicious. If you have never done this or heard of doing this before, check out this video by Dani Spies, where she originally got the idea. One tip I was given was not to eat the whole garlic bulb in one sitting, as you will emanate garlic from places you didn't know garlic could emanate from.

On that note, I added a couple cloves to my salad for dinner this evening. Note: 2 only. Now, I normally veer from salad in the winter months (or when it is spring and snow is still in the forecast) becuase A) I am not in the mood for it, and B) most of my favourite salad ingredients are not as fresh and for the most part, not grown close to home. However, today while at the farmer's market, I found some Ontario greenhouse cucumber, tomato and bell pepper. I think I am a fan of this method of growing food. While very energy intensive, I like to think that it is better for the environment than importing these foods from the USA, Mexico, or Chile. Check out this link for more information on how the produce is grown.

With these vegetables in hand I had a fresh salad in mind. To add some protein I decided to throw in some lentils, and I would have added goat's milk cheese too if my last little bit hadn't gone bad :(

Greenhouse Vegetable Salad

1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup cooked lentils

Dressing:
2 roasted garlic cloves, mashed
1/2 tbsp olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

For this salad I encountered a couple problems with putting it all together.
1) I had larger chunks of veggies and I think chopping them finer would have been easier to eat with the lentils.
2) I usually make salad dressing myself, directly into the salad, mostly eyeballing it. However, I think I would have gotten the most out of the garlic had I shaken it up with the dressing outside of the salad, being sure to break up the garlic, and then dress the salad.
So keep these points in mind if you decide to make yourself this salad.

All-in-all it was a refreshing change from my recent hot meals. The tomatoes, bell pepper and cucumber, tasted no different than what you find at your grocery store currently (read: tasted okay). I got a bit of a taste for summer, and I cannot wait to get my hands on some backyard tomatoes.

Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

My visit to the farmer's market last weekend didn't turn up too much of a bounty for a couple reasons. A) it was the first day back after the Holidays and B) the market was closing in less than a week for two weeks to move to the new location. I managed to get a few items though and as I was roaming around I tried to think of something I could make that would incorporate cabbage (which there was plenty of) and wasn't a soup (becuase that is all I feel like I have been making lately). So naturally I went with cabbage rolls! Now since I don't have much of an appetite for ground meats these are a vegetarian variety. I have only make cabbage rolls once before and they weren't anything to write about. I actually quite liked these ones and would only make one minor change in the future, which I will mention after the recipe

Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot chopped finely
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
~15 white mushrooms
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup cooked lentils
1.5 cups sauce or seasoned stewed tomatoes
1 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp driedoregano
1 tsp dried basil

1 medium cabbage
tomato sauce or seasoned stewed tomatoes

1. Heat olive oil in a pan. Add onion and saute for 3-5 minutes until soft. Add carrots and saute another 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and sautee until mushrooms are cooked. Remove from pan into a large bowl.

2. Add rice, lentils, sauce, cheese and spices to mushroom mixture and stir well to combine.

3. To cook and separate the cabbage leaves I find the following method the best: Take a knife and cut the stump off as much as you can without sacrificing too much leaf. Then take a knife and further cut around the stump so a leaf would free itself if it wasn't so rigidly bound around the cabbage. Boil a pot of water, reduce to a simmer, and immerse the cabbage. As the outer leaves turn a brighter green and soft, they will fall off with ease. Remove the loosened leaf from the water once cooked well and allow to cool. Note: The cabbage will be very hot so handle with care. I tend to stick a fork in the stem for easier handling.

4. Take the cooked cabbage leaf and put the filling in the stem end.

5. Wrap up and place in a deep baking dish

6. Cover with a generous amount of sauce and bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes.

I loved these. Took some time with cooking the rice and the lentils but so worth it. The Parmesan cheese really makes it so I suggest not leaving it out (but it could definitely be substituted). For a vegan option you could use bread crumbs or soft tofu I suspect. The one thing I would change are the carrots. Next time I would probably shred them as the chunks kind of ruined the soft inside of the filling.

I don't want to spoil any surprises but my next recipe will be a soup. It is very different from what I usually make and has an interesting story behind it. Lets just say it was in the making for almost 3 hours. I will also leave you with a picture of the most complex cake I have ever made. My housemate Jenna and I made the Reese's Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake from Annie's Eats for our good friend Dani's going away party. It was quite the treat!

I am off to continue reading Eat, Pray, Love (I have jumped on the bandwagon a little late).

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! As my gift to you I have a protein packed warm soup based off of a recipe on www.101cookbooks.com, New Year Noodle Soup. Before I get into the delicious details, I'd just like to say I had a fantastic new years eve weekend, and I hope you did too. I am not big into celebrating new years, but I am big into having some good fun at a cottage for a weekend. The weather was not on our side but that didn't stop us. While we didn't get to snowboard or toboggan, we did have a snowball fight. You can't complain about a good snowball fight.

I am also not much of a new years resolution type. I often make resolutions as the year goes on at random times based on how I am feeling. However, this year I have made a few.

1. Kick my sugar dependency that was achieved over the Holidays.
Too many squares, cookies, chocolate, cocktails, you name it.

2. Eat more local food.
Last term I was so busy with school I didn't get to visit the farmer's market as often as I would have liked. I will be heading there tomorrow before it closes for a week and a half (the Hamilton farmer's market is moving to its long awaited new location!). I hope to buy most of my produce that is grown locally, or at least in Ontario (I cannot give up bananas and citrus fruits though). We will see what goods I come home with tomorrow.

3. Train for and complete a sprint triathlon...pending getting my hands on a road bike.
In 2009 I did a tri-a-tri and had such a great time. My swim needs some work in order to complete a sprint triathlon and I definitely cannot get away with using my mountain bike in the increased distance.

4. Read more books.
The picture of my newly acquired stack speaks for itself.

5. Appreciate every day.
Not every day is the greatest day of your life, but without an appreciation for every day you live, good or bad, it is a day wasted. I don't want to waste a day.

6. Travel somewhere beautiful.
Hopefully I find the funds and the time to get away for a week or at least a long weekend. I want to visit a mountain or a coast. Something in North America would suffice.

I hope to achieve most of these and I think it is pretty reasonable. On kicking my sugar habit and starting to eat a little more normal I made a soup. I moved back to my own house today and had an empty refrigerator and a full pantry. Therefore this soup contains no fresh ingredients. But I wouldn't let that put you off, it is extremely nutritious.

Protein Packed Egg Noodle Soup adapted from 101cookbooks.com

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 L vegetable stock
1 cup lentils
1 can chickpeas
1 3/4 cup edamame
1/3 package frozen chopped spinach
4 cups whole-wheat egg noodles

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add chili flakes and heat for 1 minute.

new measuring spoons and cutting board :)

2. Add cumin, tumeric and pepper and heat until fragrant. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil.

3. Add lentils and cook for 20 minutes. Add chickpeas, edamame, and spinach. Simmer until lentils are soft.
4. Add egg noodles and simmer until cooked.

This soup was thick and delicious. Did I use chopsticks? No, but I wanted to have as many newly acquired kitchen stuff in my pictures in this post. While I haven't actually calculated the nutritional information, I imagine there is more than enough protein in this soup. I know it has kept me full for about 4 hours already, and that says something.

I've been busy but not too busy to cook!

Looking at my photo albums in iPhoto today made me realize how much I have cooked lately. I have been pretty busy with school and when I come home I am usually starving. Anything that slows down the time it takes for me to eat (aka. taking pictures/writing down quantities) has been cut from the routine. This week is equally busy so I will make this post relatively quick. Showing some pictures of my latest creations and either a link to a recipe, or a quick recap of what I did.

A while back my Nonna made me a pasta dish with no sauce, and was dressed with some olive oil and canned clams. I LOVED it! I made it once after that and then totally forgot about the potential of canned clams. They went on sale at the grocery store a couple weeks back and I remembered how much I loved them. I sauted up some garlic, chili pepper, onions, mushrooms, and broccoli, and then added the drained canned clams. Once all the veggies were tender and the calms were hot, I added some cooked rice noodles and tossed until mixed well. Any noodle would work well here but I liked the tenderness of the rice noodle.

One night a couple weeks ago I knew I wanted to use up some lentils so I did the usual search on Google Reader. I came across this recipe for a Vegetable Pie With Cornbread Topping from Seasonal Ontario Foods blog. I made some substitutions with vegetables I had on hand and I was a little disappointed. I definitely didn't like the pepper and I could have done without the eggplant (my substitution for zucchini). I liked the combination of the cornbread with the lentils (mostly because I LOVE) however and see a lot of potential in this one! I think next time I would use my personal favourite cornbread recipe.

I have been big into making baked fries lately. I make them about once a week, with sweet potato or regular potatoes. I love changing up the flavours using different spices to toss the taters in olive oil with, but one of my favourites is this flavour combination by Dani Spies, Spiced Sweet Potato Wedges With a Garlic Yogurt Dip.

On the weekend of Thanksgiving I found stewing lamb at the grocery store. Now I love lamb! It is by far my favourite meat. The best peice of lamb that every graced my lips came straight from a pot of sauce my Tatone was making. So I knew for sure I was cooking this lamb in some tomato sauce. I cut off as much of the lamb from the bone as I could. I then browned the lamb, as well as the bones with meat still on it, in a sauce pan, and then added onion and chopped portabello mushrooms. Once the veggies were cooked I poured on the strained tomatoes, added some basil, oregano, garlic powder, and 2 bay leaves. I let this simmer for about 45 minutes covered, and then allowed to reduce for another 15-20 minutes. I served it over cooked spaghetti squash, a great alternative to spaghetti! The sauce was delicious becuase you could taste the flavour of the lamb in each bite.

I am off to Montreal next week :) but I will be sure to write a real post before then. I bought myself an artichoke on the weekend and I am going to find out how to use it.

Walnut Lentil Burger

Last weekend Jenna and I decided to make dinner together. and to make something new. Trying out a new veggie burger is always fun so that is what we did. This time it was Lentil Walnut Burgers by Angela from Oh She Glows.

Yet another successful veggie burger. Because of the walnuts, it is very moist and has a great texture. Crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. We made smaller, "slider" sized burgers to have on small pieces of ciabatta bread. A great choice of bread I must say.

This gave us the opportunity to experiment with different toppings.

left: tomato and guac*; right: tomato and pickled banana peppers

* Worst guacamole ever. The last two avocados I have bought have been watery and not oily. MAJORLY lacking in the avocado flavour/texture I love so much. This made the guacamole oh so disappointing. I imagine that real guac would have tasted fantastic on the lentil burger.

I loved having the sliders but next time I would make large full size burgers I think.

Again, I did not change this recipe at all so I wont repeat it here. You can find the full recipe here. I used a real egg not a flax egg (for a vegan option).

With not living at home anymore I can't just walk outside onto the porch and into the garden to get fresh veggies. However, I have been lucky to receive some deliveries. Just yesterday, I got a ton of pears, tomatoes and figs from my Nonna and Tatone's garden. Looks like I will be making some more tomato sauce!

I am beginning to grow quite fond of figs. I never used to like them but this year I have found them quite delicious. I am lucky to have access to such fresh figs that aren't imported from California. I have been eating them raw but have also enjoyed them on bread with cheese as well as in yogurt. Here is a snapshot of my use for figs.

sliced ciabatta bread with asiago cheese and balsamic vinegar*

If I had the time I would have made a balsamic reduction. I will be making some to have with my current batch of figs that is for sure.

Happy Canada Day!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Holiday, I know I did. Spent the day outdoors mostly, except when shopping at lululemon in Oakville which was open today with stuff on "sale". The day concluded with a dinner party at a friend's house.

Birthday Dinner on Wednesday was a success...I think, haha. I made three dishes, two of which I had never made before. None were my own recipe, as I am not very well versed in Indian cuisine. I made Indian Spiced Baked Chicken, Palak Daal, and Bhindi Bhaji. These were served with naan bread and some brown rice (for save measures for the picky eater brother). I made few modifications this time around, but I have many suggestions for some modifications.

Indian Spiced Baked Chicken

This chicken recipe is actually really good (click here for the recipe). I love baked chicken, I find that it usually turns out very moist. I used chicken breasts and thighs instead of a whole chicken just so I didn't have to man-handle too much raw meat (not my cup of tea). In this recipe you "rub" the chicken with some spices and marinate for a couple hours. I was short on time so only did this for about an hour. Next time, I would leave out the ginger as I found it very overpowering in the end.

I loved the idea of the yogurt coating which is added after baking for 20 minutes. Once covered with foil and returned to the oven, I feel it really keeps the meat moist and adds a bit of creaminess to the drippings, which can be used as a sauce if desired. To make this recipe as healthy as it can be, and it is already lean and filled with beneficial spices, use olive oil to make the yogurt topping instead of the butter.

Palak Daal

Like I mentioned in my last post, this is one of my favourite dishes. I decided to follow the recipe more closely than I usually do (click here for the recipe). Normally, I do not add chili peppers, ginger, asafetida, or cilantro. I also use green lentils, ground cumin instead of cumin seeds, and add double the amount of cumin. I much prefer it with my modifications which were originally made out of convenience.

before:

after:

This soupy comfort food is good with rice and also with naan or pita bread.

Bhindi Bhaji

I wanted to also make a vegetable side dish that didn't have too much spice. This dish uses okra (click here for the recipe). I have never tasted okra before this so it was all very new. It kind of tastes like zucchini but not as good. Since my mom doesn't like tomatoes, I didn't add them afterwards as a garnish but had them on the side. I think it would have been best to add them into the pan with the okra. I also didn't use cilantro becuase I am not a huge fan, but I think I would next time; it was a little plain.

Cumin, tumeric and coriander are present in many indian and mediteranean dishes. There are many health benefits to these spices such as detoxing as well as increasing the metabolism due to the heat of the spices. Cumin is very versatile and can be added to almost anything, veggies, popcorn, guacamole, salads, etc. Have fun with it!

Tomorrow I will be talking about my new favourite breakfast which I finally tried after reading about it on one of my favourite blogs, "Oh She Glows".

P.S. I don't know why the font went all wonky...I didn't mean for the Bhindi to be all in your face, lol.